| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to a cost-of-living increase applicable to death benefits |
|
|
paid under the workers' compensation system. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 408.181, Labor Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as |
|
|
follows: |
|
|
(b) Subject to Section 408.061, the amount of a death |
|
|
benefit is equal to 75 percent of the employee's average weekly |
|
|
wage. Notwithstanding Section 408.061, the amount of a death |
|
|
benefit is adjusted in accordance with Subsection (b-1) each |
|
|
calendar year as necessary to reflect inflation. |
|
|
(b-1) Not later than November 1 of each year, the |
|
|
commissioner shall set the rate of the adjustment described by |
|
|
Subsection (b) for the next calendar year to equal the percentage |
|
|
increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners |
|
|
and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) most recently published by the Bureau |
|
|
of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor and |
|
|
used by the United States Social Security Administration to provide |
|
|
a cost-of-living adjustment for social security benefit payments |
|
|
payable beginning in January of the next year. Not later than |
|
|
January 1 of each year, an insurance carrier shall recompute the |
|
|
amount of a death benefit to be paid under this section by applying |
|
|
the adjustment computed by the commissioner under this subsection |
|
|
to the amount otherwise required to be paid under Subsection (b). |
|
|
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
|
|
to a claim for workers' compensation benefits based on a |
|
|
compensable injury that occurs on or after the effective date of |
|
|
this Act. A claim based on a compensable injury that occurs before |
|
|
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on |
|
|
the date the compensable injury occurred, and the former law is |
|
|
continued in effect for that purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |